The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-08
moaaacHs OF THE PLAINS.


4 Determined Fight for the Mastery Be
tween Two Buffalo Bulls
The most remarkable incident in NV
buffalo experience was a fight between
two buffalo bulls over on the CannonbaIl
river in Dakota, and of which was the
sole and lucky witness. l was riding
slowly Up knoll thinking of any thing
but buffaloes. when | heard the most
awful believing and crashing just ahead.
as il all iIaIisienonium had turned loose
To s.-Irc Iac out OF nv five senses NV
horze reGrsJ and plunged. but quickly
disInountins / lariatcd my steel, and be-
tween creeping and crawling managed To
secure safe observatory from which |
could yiew the circus then in progress.
Two powerful buffalo bulls were going it
hammer anil tonSs in furious efforts To
butt each others brains out. They had
"A little arena all Ia themselves. the rest of
the herd forming a circle around. watch
ing but not interfering. but waiting To
drive the v:.:isiiishcd from the fi,.Isl in dis
grace Talk about your bulliights in
Spain. yOIT Goo pound bulls battling
with little mataalors- No arena of
ancient Spain, or Rome. or moiern
Mexico ever had two such fierce
coniitit1nts face to face, nor has the tug
of war AMI the fight for mastery ever
bcen - determined AMI fierce as between
those two monarchs of the plains on the
Cannoubali river. There had only been
one crash before took my reserved seat.
but the conclusion and crack of the blow
might have been heard mile. The fun
had only just begun After the first
whack the two champions sort of hacked
and eyed each other for n second crash.
Then they lowered their heads. paved
fax
and came back at each other like pair
OF freight trains coming from opposite
directions on the same track. When the
hc;lsls, came together this time it was with
a dull thIunp which led me to believe one
or both craniumS had been cracked on
the first round. There they stuck-the
two heads-and then both bulls began To
push with all their might. The dogged,
stubborn pushing lasted some minutes,
until the white froth began to drop in
long. tenacious strings from their lips.
and the red eyes To glare through what
appeared To lie clots of blood Somebody
was hurt. for the crimson was dyeing the
white frotlI as it fell to the ground. This
dead set of strength could not last long.
The ten,lons We're standing out like ropes
across the thighs and along the thick
neczs, and every moment was telling
upon the short wind and straining of both
antagonists. Although much of "A size. |
could see that one of the bulls was an old
crusader, while the other was young
ster, and evidently trying to drive the old
man out of the herd.
The old fellows foot slipped. and the
Intelligence of the slight disaster seemed
To- burst upon his antagonist quicker than
Il flash of lightning No gladiator ever
urged his advantage more quickly. There
was a sudden relaxation ON the part Of
tine young one then a rush and a slipping
of horns upon each other, followed by 4
r;tking, upward stroke. and the horn of
the younger bull had torn the flank Of the
older fellow from the leg along the neck
to the chin. 1t was not a fatal stroke but
an exceedingly damaging one. Every
time he was attacked the patriarch of the
herd presented his war and weather
beaten head. but the youthful bison
caught him again and again behind tine
shoulder until the blood was pouring in a
perfect stream from the wound. With the
agony of defeat in his eye. and growing
weaker from the loss of blood. still the o.d
fellow refused tn be conquered At last.
with tongue hanging out and painting for
breath, he stood at lay, defeated and con
q,Iered. but still disdaining to retreat
The young bull pushed and gored him,
but lac made no attempt to protect his
flanks. The rest of the herd drew in
closer. snorted and shook their heads,
while the cows, who had always regarded
him as the head of the family. spitefully
buttcd him in the ribs and walked away.
Some of the young bulls gave him a con-
temItuous dig. until | thought the poor
fellow must have received thousand
wounds.
He stood dogged and defiant, whipped,
bat It'll obstinate, and gradually the herd
wandered farther away and left him to
himself. 1t was a sentence of banish-
nicnt and the sentence read: ITO go and
live A. long IS he could alone and fight
his last fight with coyotes and wolves and
die" lie watched the herd grow fainter
a. it wandered farther away and then
turned his gaze in the opposite direction.
Feeling his defeat keenly, without a
friend in the world, covered with blood
AMI d..5race. the poor old brute limped
slowly AMI sadly from the spot. He
darei not return to the herd-for the
cows will gore a defeated bull To death
So he wandered sorrowfully across the
plains alone and disgraced. beaten
champion, sOrely wounded and about to
die. until he was lost to view i'm the dis
tancc and dust of the prairic.-San Fran
cisco Call.